


December 14 - 11 stupid spiders

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Multi-Age, Other - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2005-12-10
Packaged: 2018-03-22 21:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3744479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Today's writing "mathom" is:</p><p>eleven stupid spiders</p><p>***</p><p>Write whatever you feel like – a drabble, a poem or a short story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Eleven Stupid Spiders

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

**Eleven Stupid Spiders**   
_**A Mirkwood Nursery Rhyme** _   
_transcribed by Arandil_

One stupid spider, sitting on the wall,  
Two stupid spiders: shoot them; they will fall.

Three stupid spiders, running up a tree,  
Four stupid spiders, thrown into the sea.

Five stupid spiders, dancing for the king,  
Six stupid spiders: kill them in the spring.

Seven stupid spiders, lined up in a row,  
Eight stupid spiders: hit them from below.

Nine stupid spiders, coming up the path,  
Ten stupid spiders, they shall feel our wrath.

Eleven stupid spiders, swarming through our Wood,  
We beat them; defeat them, all for the common good.


	2. Watching - RiverOtter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

Watching  
  
Running in the rain  
Eleven stupid spiders  
Falling in puddles


	3. Web of Friendship - by Gwynnyd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

Let me just state right up front that I have a real problem with spiders; a touch of arachnophobia. I have watched Return of the King at least a hundred times, and I still have never SEEN Shelob. Never. Not once. Not doing it. Even thinking about this mathom has been rather difficult. But as I was walking the dog tonight, I got an idea that I thought would work. When I got home, I quickly committed it to virtual paper, Liz did a quick beta on it for me, and I went to post it - and noticed that the prompt was for eleven STUPID spiders! Er, um, the memory I had of the prompt was eleven SILLY spiders. Now the last time I mis-remembered a prompt, I thought up a different drabble, but this is SPIDERS, darn it, and I do NOT want to think about them any more. You get a silly spiders entry! Deal with it!  
  
  
**Web of Friendship**  
  
Arwen saw that Elanor was homesick. She sat to the side and contributed nothing to the chatter of the other girls, which was only about people – boys – she had never met. When a tear splashed onto Elanor's hand, Arwen quietly went over to her.  
  
"I can see that lucet is too large for your hands. Shall we find you a smaller one?"  
  
"I do think I have a cramp in my fingers." Elanor gave the queen a grateful look. "I don't often use a lucet at home."  
  
"Walk with me to the artificer's, and tell me how you make cord."  
  
  
A week later, Arwen heard laughter and an odd discord of song. Peeking into her maidens' workroom, she saw it webbed with thread hanging from the beams. Ten girls stood in pairs tossing bobbins back and forth and chanting songs, in several different tempos. Arwen was not even sure they were singing the same melody. When the bobbins flew out of control, the girls laughed and batted at the swinging weights, calling out "Elanor! Help! Over here."  
  
  
Arwen giggled at her eleven silly spiders weaving, tangled in their own webs.  
  
  
(The cord making technique is a Scandinavian one, called [Whipcord](http://polaris.umuc.edu/~jthies/whipcord.htm) that dates back at least to the Vikings.) 


	4. Eleven Stupid Spiders - by Niothwen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

Eleven Stupid Spiders - A Drabble  
  
  
Bows strung and arrows knocked five wood elves silently waited.  
  
In a burst of speed the spiders raced forward!  
  
Mayhem ensued!  
  
Squeals, shouts, stomping feet - Blood!   
  
"Elladan, you stepped on Thranduil!" Elrohir said in disgust as he wiped the little figure clean of yellow gunk, then watched in dismay as a tiny head went careening to the ground.  
  
"A casualty of war" Elladan crowed gleefully, surveying the battlefield with appreciation. "I never knew twelve spiders could have so much blood."  
  
"Eleven" Glorfindel smiled as a tiny spider crawled past "One was not so stupid as to play with elflings."  
  



	5. Untitled - by Wolfwind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

_Why were those spiders in Chapter 8 of The Hobbit completely ignorant of swords?  My explanation:_  
  
  
  
My siblings and I emerged to find that the evil ones had killed the whole colony.  Somehow they had missed our cocoon; we were alone.  
  
The bodies fed us for many days, but we had to move on.  We were young and stupid and blundered near the enemy.  We might have attacked, fools that we were, but we were distracted by little ones.  
  
They looked less threatening.  We scooped them up easily enough, and hung them out to ripen.  
  
Then came the Sting: a tiny, bodiless mocker, a killer.  We had never seen its like.  Eleven died at its point.


	6. Hunger - by Agape4Gondor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

## Hunger

Silently they crept forward. They were such dolts. Did they think she was blind, with the great array of eyes she had been given? Sword-slashed smile bent as they neared. She would wait. Though hungry, nothing would keep her from teaching these little ones a lesson – and then she would feast upon them.   
  
Ungoliant's Spawn she had been called. But Ungoliant had never eaten as she did. Her daughter knew Sauron had betrayed her mother; somewhere, in the deep of Angband, he had slain her. No one would slay her daughter. Not even these **_eleven stupid spiders_** , her own offspring! 


End file.
